Start of the canalization

When I arrive at the house, we first have lunch. Today, April 4th, was the first day we had lunch in the garden in t-shirt. It was very sunny with little wind.

With the holes in the foundation we could start to put the tubes and connectors together. Of course we forgot a few connectors when we went shopping on Saturday, so after we talked through what we needed we first went to ABC, as it was such nice weather we went by bike. A great bike ride!

We asked Mo to come over for a cup of tea, so we could discuss some of the new ideas we had about how to use the space and in that regard, where we have to put canalization pipes before they will be covered by concrete.

The we started the puzzle of connecting all the parts. Towards the end of the day the first part was almost done and the plans for the rest of the system where clear.


Two holes and a fair

Between today and Saturday there is a construction fair, so we decided to go there to find more information on roofs, insulation, (central) heating and woodworm treatment. But before we could go there a drilling company stopped by to check where the holes in the foundation needed to be drilled.

After we explained with hands and feed and drawings what needed to be done they got the drill from the car and started drilling. 55 Minutes after they arrived the wholes where drilled successfully.

The fair was bigger then expected and we got all information we where looking for (except about the woodworm treatment) and some nice extra information on home automation and LED-lights. The biggest break-though discovery was a Estonian company who makes pellet central heaters and made a rough calculation for a heater, radiators, piping and installation for about 6500 euro. This sounds like a good solution for our heating question.

Window, what window?

Because of the sunny weather we decided to take out the windows next to the front door. Getting the wood off (in a way it can be reused) took my dad all morning.

When I arrived we took out the first window frame and measured the size of the wood we needed to get to will in the parts of the window. Then I went to get the car to get the wood and nails.

I could not get all the right sizes, so I first brought home the most needed wood. I guess finding a wood wholesale store might solve the size issue.

Getting rid of the first window took time, but was successful.

Change of plans

Monday afternoon we dug another test hole in the font yard to see if we could find the bottom of the foundation. There we also tried to drill some test holes. All in all it was not very successful. So we decided we would hire a company to drill a few holes through the foundation.

Once the decision was made we tried to find out what we would do the rest of the afternoon, but a lot of the work depended on the finishing of the sewer and the concrete floor. But then we remembered we had decided to get rid of some of the windows and there was a bad beam that needed partial replacement. So plenty of work to do.


Getting the pipes

After a beautiful day yesterday, today it was rainy day. No problem for my dad and me, as we where still digging inside, but no gardening for Mo.

In the afternoon the weather got a bit better, so we went to get some gardening tools and while at the construction store, we also got most of the pipes for the main part of the sever system. We also wanted to get a ground drill so we could drill from one room to the other under the foundation. ABC did not have one I liked, so we visited Bauhaus, on our way there it started to snow. The wet snow stuck together to form huge snow flakes. Very cool to see.

Digging for the sewer

If we might have had the thought we would be done digging, we where totally wrong. On Saturday we started to prepare the internal sewer systen, which ment, we had to do some digging to lay the sewer pipes for the connection with the outside pipes we hope we can start some day when all the paperwork has been done.

Anyway, we started in the future kitchen, we took out the last remaining hardboard plates that covered the floor and found the foundation of the old wood oven from the old kitchen. (And some holes which sure can cool down the room.) Later on when we opened the part of the floor where we wanted to dig in the pipes, we found the rest of the oven in pieces. And then, more digging started, the first part was a bit harder as there was a lot of stones and trash in the ground, but after about half a meter it was clean dirt and even deeper some sand.

As digging in the same hole did not work very well, I started digging on the other side of the wall, to find out if we need to drill of we can dig under the foundation.

In the mean time Mo took care of the garden, taking out the leftovers from last fall and trimming some bushes

Finally the underfloor!

Almost 2 weeks after starting to take out the wooden floor, today we could finally make the floor level. As a last thing we filled the septic tank with the stone we took out from the floor. This really cleaned up the garden nicely. I topped it off with a piece of styrofoam and pur and covered it was a put of sand.

The floor is ready to put in the styrofoam. I found it very rewarding, finally some construction again after all this demolition.

Side project

Yesterday I got a call from Jan, he asked if my offer to store his Citroën DS in the garage was still open. So today we had to rearrange the stuff that has been placed in the garage over the last weeks. Marc stopped by to help out and he and my dad did a great job.

The car was a bit wider then expected, it would have been easier if the cabinets stored on the side would have been placed elsewhere, but it just fit. Jan had to climb out through the window.

Besides the septic tank was emptied, and I was able to take out the heavy metal pipe from the septic tank to the chimney. The floor is now about level!


Lots of digging

Wednesday, a third day of digging. Today Martijn came to help again. Together we finished cleaning up the stones in the garden and took out most of the dirt.

Mo made an appointment to have the septic tank emptied. They will come tomorrow after lunch.

Spelling error report

The following text will be sent to our editors: